The Twin Valley League and Nemaha Valley highlighted the cross country scene as Washington County hosted an Invitational on Thursday (September 12th).

It was the Washington County Tigers coming out on top as the best area team performance taking home second place in both the girls and boys competition. On the girls side Nemaha Valley took third place, followed by Axtell in fourth and Onaga in fifth. In the boys competition Onaga followed Washington County taking home third place as a team, while Nemaha Valley notched fourth, Valley Heights took fifth, Clifton-Clyde placed 6th as a team and Troy took home eighth.

In the boys competition the Tigers lead the way with junior, Dylan Hodgson registering the win at his home meet posting a time of 16:38.83. Three other Tigers posted top 20 performances alongside Dylan with Eric Miller and Jefferson Simmons taking home 13th and 14th place, while Tristan Miller placed 20th.

Onaga, Nemaha Valley and Clifton-Clyde were the only three other area teams to register a pair of top 20 boys finishers in the competition. For the Buffaloes sophomore, Michael Eisenbarth paced the way again this time taking sixth place with a time of 18:20.62, while Jackson Glessner placed 15th for Onaga. For the Eagles of Clifton-Clyde, Colin Sikes and Colby Sorell took home 17th and 18th place, respectively.

Nemaha Valley was led by junior, Colin Leirz as he took home a seventh place performance with a time of 18:56.16, while Mikeal Sperfslage took home a 19th place.

Two other TVL teams had a top 10 finisher in the boy’s competition as Valley Heights and Axtell had a top five finisher on the day. For the Mustangs it was freshman, Adrian Pishny taking fifth place behind a time of 18:13.94, while Axtell was led by senior, Tracy Schmitz who posted a time of 17:45.51 good for third place.

On the girls side of competition Washington County took home four top 20 finishes, but Onaga and Axtell took home the most top 10 finishes from the area.

For the Tigers who finished second place as a team, it was junior, Madison Stone who led the way finishing ninth place with a time of 19:14.08. Cheyanne Helms, Gabryelle Gilliam and Paulina Koester all helped the Tigers to their second place team performance by finishing 16th, 18th and 19th, respectively.

The Onaga Buffaloes had the best area girls performance on the day as senior, Maggie Revell took home second place with a time of 17:55.25, while her teammate freshman, Alexis VanDonge placed fourth (18:29.61).

Axtell was led by senior, Tricia Schmitz who notched a fifth place finish racing to a time of 18:48.46, while junior, Susan Peschel raced to an eighth place finish behind a time of 19:10.95. Freshman, Paige Menninga took home 15th place for the Eagles.

Nemaha Valley lady Raiders also notched multiple top 20 performances with sophomore, Annie Davis taking home 11th place, Shania Davis placing 14th and Abbey Buessing rounding out the top 20 at 20th place.

Centralia Panther freshman, Sadie Jones continued to have a strong start to her season taking home a third place finish with a time of 18:01.75, while Clifton-Clylde had one top 20 finisher in Abby Sikes who placed 12th.

It's been a solid start to the season for many TVL teams and Nemaha Valley and they look to continue to build upon their performances moving forward this season.

Full results from 2013 Washington County cross country Invitational -- Girls (click here) Boys (click here)